James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson is best known for “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the song he co-wrote with his brother, John Rosamond Johnson; indeed, a cultural gift also traceable to their mother, who was a musician and educator, and to James Weldon Johnson, the first secretary general of the NAACP. Johnson also contributed greatly to early 20th-century Black education as a leader among teachers.  served as President of the Florida Teachers Association, and even when he stepped down, continued to speak at teachers' association events, moving through the same educator networks that produced the generation of educators who would teach the words of his song to the world. The BTA reveals that even before his death in 1938, educators centered Johnson in the curriculum through the Black National Anthem, assigned texts, and as a figure who sat beside others like W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

Here is a curated selection of his name mentioned in the collection.